Marshside

At Marshside this morning, two black terns showing well hawking for insects over Rainfords Pool adjacent to Sandgrounders hide. Later I had another look at the glossy ibis which was showing from the viewing platform in Hesketh Road.

Year: 220 (Black tern)

Cormorant with an eel.

Pennington Flash

Garden warbler 1 singing and showing well at the Slag Lane end
Cetti's warbler 2 singing
Common sandpiper 3
Common tern 1
Swift 40
Sedge warbler 1
Reed warbler 5

Around the flashes

Houghton Green Flash 16:15 - 17:00
Yellow wagtail 2 (m&f)
Swift 5
Swallow 5

Lightshaw Hall Flash 18:15 - 19:00
Garganey 2 (m&f)
Common tern 2
Redshank 1
Shoveler 4
Gadwall several
Shelduck 7
Teal 2 (m&f)

Pennington Flash 19:00 - 19:45
Cetti's warbler 1 singing

Frampton Marsh, Sandbach and Marshside

Lots of good birds at Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire today, inclluding at least three wood sandpipers, three drake garganey, curlew sandpiper, little stint, spotted flycatcher and several species of warblers. On the way home we stopped off at Elton Hall Flash, Sandbach for a look at two summer plumaged whiskered terns and then continued to Marshside to see a glossy ibis.

Year: 219 (Whiskered tern, glossy ibis, spotted flycatcher, wood sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, little stint). This time last year I was on 211 and in 2014 I was on 229.

 Phonescoped curlew sandpiper.

 Phonescoped curlew sandpiper. 

 Lapwing or even peewit, but it's a lot more than just a green plover!

 Phonescoped little stint with ringed plovers.

 Male "black" ruff.

 Female ruff (reeve).

 Phonescoped wood sandpiper.

Wood sandpiper NOT phonescoped.

 Singing sedge warbler.

Phonescoped whiskered terns.

Phonescoped glossy ibis.

Pennington Flash and Lightshaw Flash

A quick cycle ride around Pennington Flash and then up onto the canal as far as Lightshaw Flash was productive this evening with a hobby over the western end of Pennington Flash and grasshopper warbler and cuckoo reeling / calling at Lightshaw Flash. I watched the latter fly up from a hedge and land close by on top of a tree where it started calling again. Supporting cast included two Cetti's warblers at Pennington Flash.

Year: 213 (Cuckoo, garden warbler). This time last year I was on 211, in 2014 I was on 229.

Cemlyn Bay

The tern colony at Cemlyn Bay is a spectacular sight, with at least 350 Sandwich terns, 150 common terns and 80 Arctic terns. Also at least seven Mediterrnean gulls including 3 adults.

Year: 211 (puffin, Arctic tern)

Even more spectacular during one of their frequent "dreds".

Mediterranean gulls now breed at Cemlyn Bay.

Bull Bay

At Bull Bay this evening I found a raven nest with three chicks in one of the geos. Also two choughs, whimbrel, several wheatears and two harbour porpoise,

A few plants from Anglesey

Bladder campion.

Thrift

Spring squill

I'm not really very familiar with none-native plantation pine trees, but this just caught my attention today, the flowers of Corsican pine.

Conwy RSPB

A brief early morning stop at Conwy RSPB as productive today, with good views of a pair of garganey right in front of the cafe plus a flock of 10 whimbrel and lots of warblers, swifts and hirundines.

Year: 209 (Whimbrel)

You only realise how small ducks like garganey and teal are when you see them next to somethng like a moorhen!

Whimbrel

Common sandpiper

White wagtail

Aquatic invertabrates on Anglesey

I came across some interesting aquatic invertabrates on Anglesey today. First off was a couple of golden-ringed dragonfly nymphs. I took one out of the water for a closer look, and then when I put it back it proceded to bury itself. Golden-ringed dragonfly is the largest of the UK dragonflies and its nymphs dig themselves into the mud at the bottom of streams to surprise prey.

Next I came acros a few magnificent leechs in a pond we were trapping for great creasted newts.  I think that these are the rare medicinal leech but I'm seeking expert advice on the identification and may go back for a second look tomorrow. They were around 15cm long! Medicinal leech is the only UK leech capable of breaking the skin of a human (so I'm told!).

Pied Flycatcher, Taylor Park, St Helens

Bird of the day today, a fabulous pied flycatcher in Taylor Park in willows alongside the Rangers Centre. It was a decent enough view from outside, but then we were invited to view from the balcony and we had great views of the bird flycatching, at times it seemed like it was about to land on the balcony it came so close! As you can see from the photos, the light was quite harsh while we were watching the bird. You can see Chris McEntee's excellent photo here.

Amazingly this bird was in exactly the same bush as a male pied flycatcher in 2013.

This bird is consistantly being referred to on the bird information services as a male. Whilst it's true that some males can appear quite dull looking and very like females, in my opinion this is a female. although there are features which seem more appropriate to a male. For example, in this photo you can clearly see that it has some white on the rump. In the photos below you can also see that it has some white on the forehead. Both of these features are indicative of a male, but I don't think they are bright enough and perhaps some females can show male like features? I don't know. The main reason I'm calling it a female is that I don't think that there is a enough white in the wing for a male.

This photo adds a bit more confusion. Is that a second wing bar I can see? It's not particularly bright, but you can see it on several photos and this is a feature of semi-collared flycatcher, though apparenly a few collared flycatchers can also show this feature. Also, on most of the photos the bird appears to have grey tones, especially on the neck, which again is reminiscent of semi-collared. The grey tones are apparent on Chris McEntee's photograph but on his photo the second wing bar is missing. Also the tail pattern is not correct for semi-collared.

It's a pity this is out of focus, but I think it does show the extent of the white at the base of the secondaries quite well and perhaps even the tail pattern. Again, notice also the apparent grey nape on this and other photos, including Chris McEntees.